


Uncharted: Drake's Ancestry

by AzureDragoonGX



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Continuation, F/M, Gen, Original Character(s), POV Original Female Character, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-07 08:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7708216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzureDragoonGX/pseuds/AzureDragoonGX
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Several years have passed since young Cassie Drake learned of the secrets of her parents. Now fresh out of university, she dives into an adventure that will grow into something befitting of her family name. Which only makes sense, given how much that name matters in that very expedition...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Search of the Name for One Such Drake

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Stephen Nguyen here (better known as AzureDragoonGX), and today I bring to you, my first work on AO3; a continuation fanfiction of the Uncharted series!
> 
> I am a very devoted fan of the Uncharted series, as a major history buff that has a natural sense of curiosity when it comes to the more obscure parts in events of the past, especially in war times. Hellyeah! 
> 
> This fanfic mostly came to being after seeing the final game of Uncharted, the 4th, subtitled "A Thief's End." (It came out very recently; I'd say go play it, but I assume all of you have if you're on this FF. :] ) In that, SPOILER, but we find out that Drake truthfully isn't Nate's surname. It was just a tribute to his deceased mother, who believed that history got it wrong when they said that Sir Francis Drake did not have any children. Drake never decided to pursue this belief, merely adopting it, and finally accepted the fact that he wasn't descended from the famed explorer.
> 
> But what if Cassandra Morgan, Nate's mother, was right?
> 
> This is what Cassie, Nate's daughter, hopes to find out. Her ultimate journey, worthy of being compared to the unraveling of El Dorado, or the unlocking of Shambala, or the uncovering of Iram, or the unveiling of Libertalia. This, the unearthing of a centuries-old myth, that could very well be truth, is the expedition that will place Cassie on the pantheon of exploration immortals...
> 
> Or something like that. xD
> 
> Don't know much else people put in notes, so I apologize if I'm forgetting something here! Anyways, I hope you come to enjoy this prologue of the adventure! xD
> 
> \- Azure ;)

_ “Disturb us, Lord... We ask You to push back the horizons of our hopes; And to push into the future, in strength, courage, hope, and love.” - Sir Francis Drake, 1577 _

  
_ “He believed in it. That’s enough for me.” - Nathan Drake, 2009 _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

London, England. A city of many things. A city where the rain never seems to end. A city where the best soldiers are statues. A city where you can see aliens teaming with humans to fight gods, robots, and other aliens. In pop culture, of course.

But what it is most known for is a city of great history. History, of it being a territory of the Roman Empire. A land mass remaining unconquered since 1066. A heart of a lion-like conquest that spanned across all inhabited continents in its Age of Exploration. Yes... Great History, especially in the Age of Exploration.

We happened to have all learned all that we did from the remains of the past. We think we know it all, but then all of a sudden, life decides to throw a few curveballs at us; those being, new lost artifacts, new lost settlements, possibly new lost civilizations. The world has found so many things that have been lost that major destinations everywhere decided to put them up on display for all to see.

And it’s one of these exhibits in London, England, the city of great history, that is where my story, and several others’, begins...

 

A young, dirty-blonde-haired lady of twenty-two years and 5’4” stature, clad in a royal blue prom dress and silver-strappy heels, walks up the stone steps up to a formal gathering inside a church-like venue. Her presence seems to captivate all of the men who come to notice her pass by, including two black-suited individuals, as well as impressing the other women, like a Swedish blonde-hair and a South African jet-maned.

“Hello miss. May I?” A guard at an inspection table before the hall requested a quick searching of her handbag.

“You shall.” She declares, unhooking it from across her torso and placing it on the platform. Finding nothing suspicious, the man returns her the miniature portmanteau and bids her adieu. She nods in response and proceeds into the makeshift museum. 

“Champagne, miss?” A waiter in a red suit vest holds down a silver platter with several tall-stem glasses filled with a sparkling golden liquid.

“But of course.” She accepts one such drink and they both take their separate ways. When she reaches an unattended table, she takes a quick seat, sipping some of her wine, and marveling at some of the artifacts on display.

“Anything that’s your fancy?”

The woman hears the projected voice through her left ear, which she brings her hand up to in order to respond. “It’s all good. A large surgeon knife DNA-tested to hold some of the victims of Jack the Ripper, the alleged last cigarette Samuel Gompers ever smoked, and, arguably most importantly, a tibia bone that, if lead isotope assessment is to be believed, once belonged to the legendary medieval Roman hero, Artorias Pendragon. If I weren’t here to look at something else, I could be here, conversing with other appraisers, for ages.”

“Ah... But you’re not, so stop dreaming about it, Cassie.”

Cassie gives a small smirk as she presses on her earpiece again. “Yeah, yeah, don’t remind me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ Cassie, roughly a month earlier, knocks on the door to a Victorian-styled home in the middle of District of Columbia. _

_ “Come on, open up already...” The impatient Cassie says to herself as she checks her Swiss Army watch. Breathing a sigh, she backs away and turns around, viewing the pleasant, tranquil street in the heart of Wesley Heights. “Man, how did we ever handle living in a place so quiet? I guess we never stayed here too long until now...” _

_ The door finally opens. “Hello? Cassie?” A man in pushing sixty-two years of age, and yet still with luxuriously live short hair, answers the door.  _

_ “Indeed.” The young lady gives a small smile compounded in a chirpy head tilt.  _

_ A woman nearly identical to her appears behind the man, gasping at who she sees. “Cassie!” She pushes the man out of the way to embrace her. He joins in the cuddle after letting it sink in. “It’s so great to see you! Finished with Yale?” _

_ “Yeah, I am. Just a week ago. Got everything all set up and got a flight home as soon as I could.” Cassie releases her father and mother. _

_ “Ah, you should’ve called us! We would’ve been thrilled to see your summa cum laude graduation.” Nathan declared. _

_ “No you wouldn’t; I can smell an excursion into the Indian Ocean still on the both of you. But that’s alright, because I’m here for another reason.” _

_ “Come in first. We have some high-grade tea. Have a seat.” Elena welcomes her daughter inside, who complies. _

_ Now inside, the three hold their cups on their laps, resting on several pieces of Mansfield furniture.  _

_ “Yeah, you’re right, this tea is amazing.” Cassie exhales with pleasure. _

_ “Only the best for you, darling.” Nate gives a smirk himself. “I must say, now that you’ve grown past glasses, you are as stunning as ever.” He compliments his daughter. _

_ “Why, thank you.” She caresses her closed eyelids with pluck. “I see greying out only makes you more like a famous retired musician too.” _

_ “Yes, it does.” Elena brushes her hand through Nate’s mane. “So, what brings you back here, besides giving us great news about your education? Have you also got a stellar career path too?” Elena leans forward, eager for an answer. _

_ “It’s... A bit like that. I’m thinking of waiting a bit before diving headfirst into anything concrete with my history major. It’s not like there’s nothing lined up for me right now; my name alone, and everyone in the business wants me.” Cassie backs up a bit to equalize conversation distance with her parents. _

_ “Oh, then what might it be?” Her mother looks puzzled. _

_ “Might be some fortune hunting. Cassie, you are too much like us.” Nate jokes, readying his cup to take another sip. _

_ “Nate!” Elena taps his stomach, causing him to gag a bit while the tea is traveling through him. “We are not glorifying any more of those crazy adventures we had in those ten years.” She then turns to Cassie. “It isn’t that, right?” _

_ “No, it’s not fortune hunting... Well, I’m not sure actually. The prize I’m looking for isn’t money. It isn’t explicitly material.” Cassie becomes even more cryptic. _

_ “Not material?” They both look at her with curiosity. _

_ “I...” Cassie clears her throat. “Want to find the unknown descendent of Sir Francis Drake.” She finally reveals her goal. _

_ Her parents are obviously both bewildered by her claim. _

_ “Are you guys mad?” _

_ “No, no we’re not mad. It’s just...” Nate looks away for a bit. _

_ “It’s just that was there any true evidence that that was true? I mean, Nate has lived believing that lie for more than 20 years, without ever finding anything that says it could be true. You can’t expect us to be overjoyed beyond measure about a breakthrough now.” Elena explains. _

_ “I suppose, but I wasn’t expecting too much of a reception anyways.” _

_ “Why do you want to start now? You learned about this much earlier. If you were eager to explore this back then, we would’ve done something about it.” Nate explained. _

_ “I lost some interest in it after a while... But now I got it all back.” Cassie looked a little uneasy about answering that question. _

_ “Do you even know where to start?” Nate questioned. _

_ “Indeed.” Cassie looked through her handbag, unfolded a small paper, and placed it on the mahogany table. “I had a, ‘special’ friend of mine arrange a deal with someone he knows pretty well, who claims to have a personal item of one Elizabeth Sydenham.” _

_ “Sydenham? Drake’s second wife?” Elena briefly reiterated. _

_ “Yes. Even to this day, we know so little about the woman. But what she knows might be the deciding factor on uncovering the rest of a life under Drake. Great history keeps popping up day by day, right?” Cassie gives a slight grin. _

_ “Who’s your ‘special’ friend? Who’s his friend? And how and why does he have this artifact? What does he want in exchange?” Drake became deadly serious. _

_ “Father, it’s nothing to worry about. As you can see, we’re making the deal in the very populated and protected area in London, England. He wants some historic coins in exchange, which is a small price to pay for finally having closure on this greatest wonder of ours.” Cassie got a little more defensive. “Don’t you have faith in me?” _

_ “We do have faith in you, darl. And to see you so eager to solve something really gets us fired up too.” Elena comments. _

_ “Which is why, we’re going to organize a party for you. For us. D&F Fortunes will sanction a full-scale hunt for the truth, with you as the point-woman.” Drake suggests. _

_ “Uh...” Cassie finally asserts herself more. “This can’t be done by you. There can be only one Drake doing this.” _

_ “What? Why?” They both interrogate. _

_ “It’s like you said, Elena. You all have 10 years of miraculous adventures under your belts. Can’t you leave just one great; not miraculous, great, adventure for me?” _

_ The parents look back at each other. “How about just a few of our personnel following you then?” Nate compromises. _

_ “No, it still wouldn’t feel right.” Cassie shakes her head. _

_ “We can’t let you roam around all the bad parts of the world we did before by yourself, Cassie!” Elena exclaims. _

_ “I won’t be alone! I got a few of my friends from Yale, who also urged some of their pals to join in on the fun. All of them are bored as Hell, and don’t mind going on a little tour. And I even got one person we know really well who will accompany me too.” Cassie countered. _

_ Then, the door knocks again. _

_ “In fact, there he is.” Cassie looks back towards the entrance. Nate gets up to curiously answer the door... _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cassie, still taking a little breather at the tables, surveys the volume of Spitalfields, not just for intriguing mementos of history, but also for the lead she had developed with her “special friend.” The crowd is a difficult obstruction to overtake, however.

Before long, a Japanese man, roughly Cassie’s age, clad in a two-piece suit matching his Onyx-colored hair, sat down right next to her. He offered her one of his two champagne glasses before taking a sip of his own. “Missus.” 

Cassie sassily smirked, accepting the drink and swishing it to optimal level. “You planning on spiking random young ladies like myself tonight?”

“Let me take the first sip then, if you don’t trust me.” Without looking at Cassie, he moves his left hand to take the glass.

“No, that won’t be necessary. Still as blunt as ever... Daisuke Miyashiro.” Cassie remarks, finally fully accepting his offering.

Daisuke turns his head to look her in the eye. (DAISUKE MIYASHIRO; 22 YRS OLD; JAPANESE; COLUMBIAN UNIVERSITY GRADUATE; BIOTECHNOLOGY MAJOR; THE POINT MAN; JOINED DUE TO CASSIE’S INSISTENCE) “Any luck in finding the Contact?”

Cassie finishes drinking. “No, the crowd is too thick. He could be anywhere in this gathering.” She remarks.

“Then we’ll need a sky view.” Daisuke taps his earbud. “Alexa.”

“On it.” Alexa, sitting inside a Starbucks on Copthall Avenue, works on her Lenovo laptop. (ALEXA BRISTOL; 20 YRS OLD; BRITISH; YALE UNIVERSITY STUDENT; MECHATRONICS MAJOR; THE TECH; JOINED TO HELP HER FORMER ROOMMATE) She programs the live cameras of the Spitalfields Venue to scope the situation. “Kat, Rena, are you two on point?” She asked around.

“Yeah, I’m at point.” Rena announced on intercom, standing and looking over the edge of the atrium second floor. (RENA BARRETT; 22 YRS OLD; SOUTH AFRICAN; US MILITARY ACADEMY STUDENT; CIVIL ENGINEERING MAJOR; THE MUSCLE; JOINED TO HELP A FRIEND OUT)

“Many thanks for showing me around.” Another blonde individual slowly walks away from another man, allowing distance to release their contact. She then takes a spot on the sill of the opening in the floor. “I’m in position too.” (KATALINA NYLEN; 21 YRS OLD; SWEDISH; YALE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE; PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR; THE GRIFTER; JOINED BY REQUEST OF CASSIE)

“Do you see a man, early 40s, in a pinstripe suit and fedora, down below, on the Southwestern level?” Alexa asked through her ear.

The two looked around. Then, from the corner of her eye, Kat noticed a person that matched that description. “Yeah, I see him.”

“That should be our guy. He did say he’d make himself stand out like that.” Alexa commented. “Cassie, Daisuke, when you’re ready, head in that direction.”

“Will do.” Daisuke mutes his earbud and finishes his champagne. “Ready?”

“Been ready.” She gets up, and with Dai close behind her, they walk through the crowd, eventually reaching an uncrowded section of the ground floor. “Good evening, sir.” Cassie greeted the pinstripe man.

The Contact, leaning on the wall of the Venue, rose his head, allowing his shadowed chin to be seen. “Why hello to you, too, missus. And sirram.”

“You have what we requested?” Cassie interrogated.

The Contact asked for a briefcase from one of his security. “And do you?”

Daisuke went through the internal pocket of his blazer and presented a small bag. He threw it up to cause a set of metallic noises, showing something was inside.

“Your move.” Cassie bounced back.

“Let’s go somewhere more private.” The Contact before hand-gesturing to walk deeper into the Venue’s back halls. The two young adults follow.

“Don’t worry guys,” Rena held her earpiece. “We’ll keep on lookout from above.”

Now, The Contact, his two guards, and the adventurers walk into a personal study room within the former cathedral. 

“Nice place. Looks like the Oval Office.” Cassie looked around.

“That makes sense. The layout of Buckingham’s Queen Study is similar to the POTUS’ Oval Office, makes sense, being the Resolute Twins. Nicholas Hawksmoor, the architect of this Venue, had designed St. James Palace before it, which was much like Buckingham too. It only made sense you stuck with what worked.” Daisuke took slight marvel of their destination also.

The Contact snickered lightly. “I see that you two are the real deal. Now, let’s take a seat.” He sat on one side of a low-rise coffee table. Cassie and Dai also rested, across the dividing furniture. Daisuke placed the small bag he presented earlier onto the aforementioned table, which the Contact took, opened, and viewed its contents. Out came several outdated coins. “And I also see these are the real deal - Sixpences, a staple of the Pre-Decimal English currency.”

“Well, we aren’t kidding around in what we want.”

“Maybe not. But how do you know that Charles Dickens personally handled this piece?” The Contact queried, after authenticating them with a magnifying lens.

“Minted in 1843, as the below engraving reads. Also, note an arc of lighter colored metal on most of those sixpences.” Dai notes.

“That coin saw the particular making of two of Dickens’ books;  _ Martin Chuzzlewit _ and  _ David Copperfield _ . Significantly in the former, Dickens proposed that the truest business precept was ‘[d]o other men, for they would do you.’ Since he couldn’t trust others not biting him in the back during his time, he bit his coins voraciously, signifying that belief.” Cassie added on. 

“Can’t account for common sense in the previous centuries, huh? Regardless, you convinced me. Here you go.” The Contact put the coins back in the bag, and put the briefcase on the table; latches facing the duo.

“After you, Cass.” Dai offered.

Cassie opened it up, and inside, carefully packaged with old newspapers, sat a stringed journal, with the initials, “E.S.D.” on the front cover. “E.S.D... Elizabeth Sydenham Drake.”

Dai opens up the book, and authenticates the inkwork. “Most definitely 16th century. Looks legit.” He closes up the book with satisfaction. “You didn’t open it up before right?”

“No damage. At least by our hands.” The Contact answers.

“Perfect. Just what we need.” Cassie smiles. “Pleasure doing busin-”

“Tell me.” The Contact interrupts her sentence.

Cassie and Daisuke suddenly look up with preoccupation.

“Why do you two want this journal?” He crosses his arms.

“Why do you care? You’ve gotten something much more valuable now.” Cassie asserted.

“And why would you agree to such a trade... Unless whatever you were just given, has clues that lead to something even more valuable than mere coins.”

“Well, we cannot say it won’t, but that’s not why we’re after it.” She responds.

“Good enough for me. Allow me participation in your little treasure hunt. You need not worry about setup costs, and no destination is restricted.” The Contact suggested.

“That’s... An amusing offer, but we have our own team that can handle things just fine.” Daisuke rejected the proposal.

There was a knock on the door we entered. “That may be... Come in.” The Contact spoke in event. Then, in came Cassie and Dai’s two friends, pulled in by two more of his backup. They then stopped right where the other two guards stood. “But we fare far better. Now...” The Contact then pulled out a suppressed Para-Ordnance 1911 LDA pistol and aimed it at Cassie. Daisuke instinctively stood in the way. “One last chance: Join us, or die.”

Cassie and Dai both looked at Rena and Kat, then back at The Contact. “Now now, let’s just calm down here...” Dai puts his hands level to his chest.

“I’m counting to five. No compliance? Then you shall pay what all men are indebted to.” The Contact ordered.

“What?” Kat looked legitimately perplexed.

“He means death. The debt that all men pay is death. It was written by Euripides circa 400 BCE.” Cassie turns to tell her.

“I didn’t reference Euripides. I was thinking about ‘National Treasure 2.’” The Contact was puzzled, still keeping his gun aimed.

“Really? I was banking on HellYeah’s song in 2009.” One guard proposed.

“It could’ve been Richard Rumbold, 17th century.” Daisuke noted.

“Might be a reiteration of Romans 6:23; ‘For the wages of sin [for all men] is death.’” Cassie offered an alternative.

“Okay, enough! I never thought there’d be so much history in this job!” Rena shook around in her restraints. 

“Well, the least good thing we know about this situation...” Kat tilted her head. “Is that we’re not men. Sorry Dai.”

“None taken.” He looks over to her and nods.

“Shut up! All of you!” The Contact switches aim between them all. “Now,” He then returns aim to Cassie, who Daisuke maintains being in front of. “Are you that much in a hurry to die, Asian man?”

“You’re not going to want me in front of that gun very soon. So enjoy it while it lasts.” Daisuke, with his hands still up, warned.

The Contact looked amused. “Very well. The count then... One...”

Katalina, now facing the reality of the situation, took a deep breath.

“Two...”

Rena reciprocated that action.

“Three...”

Daisuke had one bead of sweat going down the left side of his face.

“Four...”

Cassie gulped.

“Fi-” 

The Contact was interrupted by a light bang on the door. “Hm?” He looked over.

One guard decided to check what that was. When he opened the door, he saw a fellow guard, with his head up, but his glasses crooked. “Uh, something wrong, Bishop?” 

“Your face.” A voice announced, though his mouth didn’t move.

“Wha-” The conscious guard was then hit with a brass knuckle straight to his chin, knocking him out.

Kat and Rena then capitalized on the shock. The former stepped on the instep of her restraining guard, then lifted her heel up to kick his crowning jewels. With him bowed, all she needed to do was axe kick him on the top of his head, putting him down for good. Rena, at the same time elbowed her restraining guard with her free arm, then headbutted the third. She then jumped off the back edge of a couch and rebound roundhouse kicked them clear on their cheeks, causing them to fall back onto the back wall.

“What on Ear-” The Contact did not have time to complete his sentence when he went to aim his handgun at the two ladies, before Daisuke goes right in front of it again. He quickly does a dual hand chop that switches the degree of the pistol’s barrel 180 degrees, back at the Contact. “Whoa!” He exclaimed after finally processing what happened.

Daisuke held the man’s aiming left arm with his right while his other kept the piece pointed straight. “I told you.” He stated.

“You must be the leader of the group that stole from National Archives several weeks ago, and it just so happened this book was a part of the loot, wasn’t it?” Cassie put both of her hands to her hips as she walked over to him, taking the coins and the journal off the table. “Cops won’t mind nabbing you.”

“You fucking bitch-”

Daisuke twists the Contact’s arm, causing him to expose the more sensitive parts of his throat, which Daisuke pistol whips, knocking the man out. “Show the ladies some respect.” He concluded while ridding the pistol of its magazine and bashing the slide out of the frame, then throwing both contents onto the ground.

Cassie takes a deep sigh. “Where were you, Max!?” She then looks at the entrance, where the passed-out guard crumpled to the ground within the room.

“Making enough commotion so that I got all the outside guards here... So I can put them all down for the count.” A black-suited man, built like an ox, stood, tugging on the cuffs of his sleeves. (MAX PAXTON; 23 YRS OLD; BRITISH; US MILITARY ACADEMY STUDENT; HUMAN GEOGRAPHY MAJOR; THE 2ND MUSCLE; JOINED IN THE HOPES OF KINDLING AN OLD FLAME)

“Headstrong as always...” Rena scratched the back of her head.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Max made sure the men were all within the perimeter of the study.

“Okay. Kat, get the cops coming.” Cassie ordered.

“ _ Help! I’ve been kidnapped! I’m locked in the study room of Sitalfields Venue! EEEEEEE~ _ !” Katalina gave a very convincing phone call. “There we go.” She smirked.

“So, we got all that we needed, and they got their just desserts. Let’s get out of here.” Daisuke advised.

“Yeah. Alexa.” Cassie spoke on the earbud.

“Okay! Lorenzo, you’re up!” Alexa focused her microphone.

“Very good! I’ll be across the street in one minute!” Lorenzo put his feet off the platform above the steering wheel of a Honda Odyssey, and started the engine. (LORENZO JUAREZ; 21 YRS OLD; SPANISH; UMASS LOWELL GRADUATE; PHYSICS MAJOR; THE ESCAPIST; JOINED WHEN ALEXA CALLED HIM) The car then screeched with acceleration and cut a wide corner into the busy streets.

“Go time, ladies.” Max smugly smiled. The five then left the room, with Daisuke closing from behind. They descended down the stairs of Spitalfields Venue together, crossed the street, and got into the Odyssey, just before police SUVs and Cruisers move in on the scene, spooking some of the appraisers standing or sitting outside the hall.

**Some time later...**

The minivan arrives in the parking garage of Nadler Kensington. They then take the elevators up to the seventh floor, where they all go into a family-sized suite, unlocked by the already-arrived Alexa. They all broke silence standards cheering about a job well done. Max popped a hotel-issue champagne bottle open and poured some all into the suspended glasses of his teammates while Alexa plays some electro-tech house music.

“Oh, no drinks for me and Dai, Max. We’ve had enough at the Venue as it stands.” Cassie shook her hand at the bottle’s nozzle pointed at her.

“This will probably be the last bit of alcohol we get for a while, you might as well have some of it.” Kat spoke after sipping.

“A-alright.” Cassie takes a lone glass and accepts a pour. “Dai? You getting any?”

“No thanks.” Daisuke continues reading the journal with latexed hands.

“Ohoh, right.” Cassie stands up, placing her glass on the night table. “We should see if we have our answer here right now. Everyone, chime down. Alexa, turn down that track.” She then goes over to Dai’s desk, and they start looking at the journal. “Any evidence in there?”

“No... It seems Sydenham was very secretive, even to herself. She never once says anything along the lines of son, or child, or booby...” Dai flips through the pages.

“Heheh, booby.” Lorenzo couldn’t help mimicking. 

“Dirty, dirty man...” Kat shakes her head... Before resting it on his shoulder. “I like that.” She starts moving up his arm intimately.

“Oh, do you?” He requested confirmation.

“Quiet, guys!” Cassie shushes them. “Anything like blood, or even related?”

“No... Too cryptic to be conclusive. At least... On what we have here...”

The whole room starts deflating.

“Oh...” Alexa sinks into the sofa.

“Shit...” Rena pushes her right forearm into her forehead.

“Wait, why did you say, ‘On what we have here?’” Kat noticed.

“Well, look.” Daisuke holds up one cover of the journal, where it is revealed that the last page of the book does not hit the back cover.

Cassie gasped. “That wasn’t all of the journal!”

“No... Someone ripped the last half off.” Max inspected.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious.” Rena raised an eyebrow.

“I’d say we find the rest of this journal, we find out the Drake family’s greatest secret.” 

“Awesome. The adventure continues!” Cassie pumped herself up.

“But do we know even where to go next? There could be billions of places to hide a packet of 16th century pages, even if it is limited to Europe and Central America.” Lorenzo queried with preoccupation.

“We’re going to relive the adventure that Elizabeth Sydenham had with her husband.” Cassie looked at the first few pages of the journal.

“What? Sydenham had adventures with Drake?” Alexa looked on with surprise.

“According to herself here, apparently. Only for a few years after they were married. Which is good that this journal seems to start when they just got together.” Daisuke answered.

“How do you know that?” Rena asked.

“Sydenham makes good note of the destinations they are heading to - Setting off from Plymouth to attack Vigo, Santiago, Santo Domingo, Cartagena, and St. Augustine.” Cassie read aloud, off the several centuries old pages.

“The Great Expedition of 1585. Several months after they tied the knot in Plymouth Hoe.” Daisuke finished.

“Great. So we explore all of those locations?” Lorenzo shrugged.

“That’s three different continents. We could be looking all over those cities for ages.” Max remarked.

“We won’t have to go to all of them. Several of those don’t add up to the fact that Sydenham stayed at one of these places for more than a few months.” Cassie put her hand to her chin. “Let’s see, Vigo can’t be it, because being literally on Spanish soil would be an Englishman or woman’s death sentence.”

“Drake and his crew explicitly stayed on their ships during the seventeen days they laid siege to Santiago, so that’s out too.” Daisuke mentioned.

“And so is Santo Domingo, for the Spanish government and Drake accepted a deal in the latter’s ransom just a month later.” Cassie exchanged.

“Do they always do this?” Kat looked at the others.

“You have no idea.” Max sighs.

“Okay okay, so that leaves... Two. Two places left. That sounds much more manageable.” Lorenzo looked upbeat.

“Cartagena and St. Augustine. Both of those areas have perfect disappearance alibis.” Daisuke asserted. “We ought to split up, and then converge when we find out which one leads to the next clue, or, hopefully, the rest of the journal.”

“Sounds like a good idea.” Max nods, then looks at Cassie. “I’ll go with Cass.”

“Whoa, hey, who said you could-” Cassie tries to protest.

“Katalina, Rena, would you like to accompany me to Cartagena? I believe you two had tours there before.” Daisuke requested.

“Yeah, we’ve got some experience. We can join you.” Rena saluted. 

“I’d like to join in too. Columbia sounds like a much more enjoying spot. I’ve never been there before.” Alexa noted.

“I guess I’m going with you and Cassie, Max.” Lorenzo concluded.

“Wait a sec-” Cassie was again interrupted.

“It’s settled then. Team Cassie to Florida, Team Daisuke to Columbia. May one of us get what we’re all looking for.” Daisuke closed the book with authority.

“Oh brother...” Cassie falls back into her chair.


	2. First Lady of Naval War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reading the first half of Elizabeth Sydenham-Drake's journal reveals that she had partaken in her husband Sir Francis Drake's Great Expedition of 1585 as well! And with the latter half concerning the years following this excursion, nicknamed "The Sydenham Pages," has revealed to be missing from the journal, Cassie and her team of diverse specialists decide that the adventure continues: To find these Pages and unravel the Drake lineage mystery! This has them split into two uneven teams to explore two destinations that are plausible for Sydenham to have resided in, leading to them to try and find evidence of her and an infant's existence. But is there a decent chance that someone doesn't want them to be found...?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for everyone that has been reading so far! I really appreciate it! xD
> 
> \- Azure ;)

_ Why do I have to deal with all of this... _

Cassie looked away from Max as they departed off of an airway that took them from London, England to Orlando, Florida.

“Well, Cass. Here we are. In the state when we first started dating. Remember?” Max rested his arm over her shoulders.

“Don’t, do that.” Cassie sped up to cause the Marine to let go. “And don’t remind me...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ It was during our time in high school, and I couldn’t get many true friends, since everyone didn’t care too much for myself, more the excursions that me and my parents (mostly my parents) had gone through... _

_ Wait a minute, this part’s not important. You don’t need to know about my personal life when I was a kid. Okay, let me be compendious about this point: _

_ During my junior year, my class had a field trip to Florida, with Science and Foreign Culture subjects wanting us to embrace the concepts found in some of the state’s festivals, such as Marine Wildlife Festival and the Hispanic Parade. My selected group, which included Max, were quite, shall we say, interested in seeing if I could find treasure wherever we walked to. Needless to say, I got a bit ticked off, but Max saw it, and he shut them all up during the second night there. I was grateful when I learned the next night about it, and while we sat and watched some fireworks being reflected on the corresponding river, we, ugh, kissed. _

_ That lasted all the way to just before the year ended. During and since then, Max was being forced to enter the military, and became very invested in staying with me at every moment until he did. It certifiably creeped me out, and I pushed him away; a negative message that he seemed to brush past after all these years, seeing how much he still seems to want me... _

_ Well, now you’re all caught up on me and Max. There you go. _

_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _

“What’s so bad about that? It was sweet.” With how much Cassie knew Max, he was saying that with the most smug charm possible. And he was.

“That doesn’t hold much value from a direct reactant to the situation.” Cassie joked back.

“You two seem to have a very juicy history. I would like to know about it once we’re done with this.” Lorenzo, the talkative driver, caught up with them.

“It’ll disappoint, mind you.” Cassie countered.

“I’ll be the judge.” He hand waved that away.

“In any case, we’re going to St. Augustine, right? That’s a two-hour trip. We ought to get going now.” Max looked at his analog Luminox watch. 

“I just need to get my Range Rover from the car ferry, then we can be off.” Lorenzo answered. “It looks like the one connected to our flight won’t arrive for another ten minutes.”

“We need not be in too much of a hurry, guys. It’s not like anyone else is after what we’re after.” Cassie reassured them.

“Hm, that’s true. This isn’t about a  Drake’s Fortune .” Max scratched the back of his head.

“I’ll go to the harbor, get the car when it arrives, and then pick you guys up. Sit tight, and watch mi cosas (my things), alright?” Lorenzo grinned before setting off.

Cassie and Max see him jog away.

“Where did you get him, Cass?” He asked when he proved too far away to hear.

“I didn’t directly request him, to be honest...” She answered, itching her left cheek. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_ Cassie dialed on her Nokia Lumia and then placed it to the side of her head. “Come on, come on...” Cassie, impatient as she was for such trivial things like this, whispered to herself... _

_ “Cass! Hey!” A feminine voice with a hint of British in it greeted. _

_ “Alexa! Great to hear you!” Cassie identified the voice. _

_ “To what do I owe this honor, oh revered fortune hunter?” _

_ “Going for some fortune hunting of my own, on my own. Though whether one can call what I’m after ‘fortune’ is up for debate.” _

_ “Fortune is not usually something you can call subjective...”  _

_ “It’s most valuable to me is all I can say.” _

_ “Hm... Okay. And you want me to join in?” _

_ “Have any difficulties? The group can really benefit from your technology expertise.” _

_ “Well, I can certainly make up a month’s worth of college work in my senior year. So I guess I can tag along. But you probably need a driver.” _

_ “What? We’re all young adults. We can handle driving just fine.” _

_ “Cassie... I don’t trust you or your friends (which includes myself) behind a wheel.”  _

_ “Why does every direct Drake descendent hate to drive? My father barely ever piloted anything.” Cassie stamped her feet. _

_ “Save it for the therapist, Cassie. No offense.” Alexa laughed. “In any case, I have a friend of mine - Lorenzo Juarez. He’s a Lowell graduate, childhood friend of mine, and hyper-applied his Physics degree to almost all aspects of his jaunting. He handles land, sea, and air vehicles like the back of his hand. Let me get him on the adventure; he’s bored as fuck.” _

_ “Well, alright. If you think he’s the right person for the job, put me and him on a line and I’ll include him in.” _

_ “Cool! See you... When?” _

_ “In a week and a half. Get ready now.” _

_ “Alright! See you then!” They both hang up. _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“... And during the interview, I came to understand Lorenzo... In some aspect. He obviously has an interest in the credentials of the adventure, if not an aptitude for them. But on that note, I did call for you...” Cassie smirks.

“Who would you want when some locals become unruly to ya? A Brit lass that always needs a screen? Or the Brit who’s a Marine?” Max found the need to defend his position. 

“In any case, Lorenzo lived up to Alexa’s claim, so why not get him involved? He’s a bright one; you got to be if you’re a Physics graduate. So now you know. May I ask why?” Cassie finished.

“Hm, he can be quite a talker, but he seems harmless to his friends, so I see nothing wrong with it. Just wanted to get to know the guys you know better.”

“In case you have competition?”

“Please, you call Daisuke competition? Gimme a break.” Max looked away with hubris. Soon enough, a Range Rover stops right in front of them.

“Finally got it! Get in guys!” Lorenzo pops out of the driver’s seat and opens up the passenger doors.

“Pretty nice ride.” Cassie complimented.

“Why thank you, my lady.” Lorenzo bowed.

“Pfft, you caused that on purpose, Cass.” Max grumbled.

“Bet on it.” She winked, before getting into the vehicle.

“She caused what?” Lorenzo looked between them.

“Nothing. Nothing.” Max took his place as well.

**One and a half hours later...**

The team of Cassie, Max, and Lorenzo are on their drive across the Interstate to St. Augustine, one of the last destinations of Sir Francis Drake during his Great Expedition. 

Cassie dials Alexa on her Nokia and put her on line. “Alex!”

“Cass!” The roommate answered.

“How are you? And the rest of the team?”

“I’m doing pretty fine. Rena, Kat, and Daisuke are handling just great as well. We’re almost in Cartagena. Anything wrong?”

“No, us three are doing just as fine as you.”

“Then have you uncovered anything in St. Augustine, then?”

“No, not that either. Just worrying about you, girl.”

“Don’t worry about me; Kat’s talking game and Rena’s power, coupled with whatever mystery Dai has can handle any crisis.”

_ Hm, Daisuke has a mystery? _ Cassie thought. “Alright. We won’t contact again then, until either of us have a lead to find the Sydenham Pages.”

“Very well. May the right women succeed.”

“Amen to that. Later.” Cassie ends the call.

“The girls doing fine, Cassie?” Lorenzo looks in the rear-view mirror.

“Yeah, they cool.” Cassie puts away her phone and looks at Sydenham’s journal again.

“You think Daisuke infected that cool in them?” Max quipped.

“Haha, Max. Daisuke isn’t as cold as you make him out to be.”

“Warming up to him?” Max looked back.

“Okay, he may not be cold, but he’s not room temperature either...” Cassie puts her hand to her lower lip.

“So are you ‘freezing’ up to him?” Lorenzo looked puzzled. 

“I’ve known him longer than I have you, Max. I don’t need to warm or freeze up to him. All that needs to be said is that I know Dai can handle any group he’s in, and any group can handle him. That’s enough.” Cassie asserted.

“Fine then.” Max scoffed.

**Finally, at St. Augustine...**

After two hours, Team Cassie finally made it to the expedition destination. Once in the city, Cassie had Lorenzo drive to Castillo de San Marcos; the fort that Drake attacked and took control of during the excursion around the Atlantic coasts of the Americas. 

They parked on the street adjacent to the site, and walked into a tour group spectating the historic landmark. After roughly half an hour of guidance, the trio got to see a passageway that would lead to, as the official describes, the section of the settlement in which Drake and his officer personnel resided in. However, that area is left off-limits to citizens. 

As the tour starts to move away, the two guys and gal unspliced from the mob. 

Cassie looked at the double-helix rope that separated accessible from inaccessible, and went under it. “Come on, guys.”

“Ho, boy, we’re going to be in some bloody trouble.” Max sighs, before complying.

“La vida loca es la vida mejor (The crazy life is the best life).” Lorenzo grins before being the last to limbo under. They then took prudents steps, making sure there were no preservation guards about in “Drake’s corner,” before gently going into each home to look for evidence pointing to Sydenham and Drake’s succession.

In the latest opening of a house one back alley away from allegedly Drake’s safehaven...

“Well, look at this...” Cassie declares, before taking a vinyl glove and lightly caress a rocking baby cradle. 

“A bed for an infant.” Max, given a vinyl hand of his own, let the wooden craftwork tilt back and forth a bit.

“It’s a decent make... But this isn’t enough to prove Drake and Sydenham had a kid, does it?” Lorenzo looked at every piece of the rocker, then took a knee to observe the lower half.

“No, it’s not enough. This isn’t Drake’s home, so even if one of the 1,800 souls that left Plymouth Hoe wasn’t a mature soul, there’s no tie-in between it and Sir Francis just yet.”

“So we need to keep going, huh? Just great.” Max looked up.

“There might have even been a baby at all, guys.” Lorenzo became rather blunt.

“Why? What makes you say that?” Cassie grew a bit defensive.

Lorenzo lifted the cradle up a bit. “Perfect condition slopes.”

Max held his head. “Whoever was in this house didn’t use the cradle, or need it.”

Cassie stares at it for a second, before hand-waving it. “Maybe not them, but the Drakes did need one sooner or later. Let’s check his house.

But that proved to be fruitless as well.

“Damn!” Cassie lightly stamped, upon finding that no such instrument was found in her supposed ancestor’s home.

“Sorry, Cass. Doesn’t sway you at all, right?” Max put his hand on her shoulder again.

“Nah. It doesn’t. Sydenham was around Drake for a reason. We’re going to find it. And by it, I mean something between them.”

“Well, I think we know the next place to look. At least a little.” Lorenzo went over to them with a small piece of paper. It was an unfinished letter, but what Cassie could make of it literally said, “...I will return to the colony soon, my love. For you, of course. - Francis Drake”

“The colony?” Max scratched his head.

Cassie snapped her fingers. “Roanoke Colony. On the eponymous island while we’re at it.” She paced back and forth within the household. “Drake and his forces had come across some scouts further inland that had given them distress messages sent from Roanoke Island, whose residents were in desperate need of miscellaneous support. Sydenham knew a thing or two about first aid care, so she was among the group set to go there, while Drake and his closest and strongest guards made St. Augustine itself a colony.”

“It’s coming together?” Lorenzo grinned.

“Definitely. Let’s get on the next plane to NC.” Cassie quickly unequipped her glove and made her way outside. The guys followed suit. 

The three returned to the Range Rover parked outside of the landmark and headed back to Orlando in order to fly again. But along the way...

Lorenzo notices with his rear-view mirror an SUV that has matched every turn and lane change with a constant distance away...

“Something bothering you, ‘Enzo?” Max looks over to him from the shotgun seat.

“Seat belt.” Lorenzo rolls up his window.

“What-” Cassie said before the Range Rover accelerates abruptly and she sinks deep into the cushions of her chair. “EEEEE~!!!”

“What’s happening, ‘Enzo!?” Max, handling the crisis much better, holds onto the high handlebar on the ceiling of the vehicle.

“We’re being followed!” Lorenzo says as he makes a very tight right turn.

“What!? By who!?” Cassie pulls herself together.

“Cass, are you sure no one else is after the treasure!?” Max looks back frantically.

“It’s not a treasure! It’s just for the Sydenham Pages!” She responds, before remembering when she said a similar phrase. “The Contact!”

“Shit...” Max pounds on his armrest.

“The Contact?” Lorenzo reiterated.

“He said he had guys who could handle this mystery! His superiors must be thinking whatever we’re after is worth millions!” Cassie explained.

“They’re pretty wrong right now, but I guess that doesn’t really matter.” Lorenzo made another tight turn.

“What do we do?” Cassie questioned.

“No choice; we gotta shake them.” Max pulls out his Marine-issue MEU(SOC) pistol.

“On it!” Lorenzo sped up the SUV exponentially.

Lorenzo’s auto expertise is definitely helping out greatly now, with him luring the pursuing SUV and his passive friends in pickup trucks into a narrow street that causes one truck to smash into the wall before the opening of the street. But the other two vehicles still remain. He could probably have done it again, until the bad guys pulled out firearms and put small holes in Lorenzo’s ride. “Hey! My Rover!”

One bullet hits the back window of the SUV, shattering the glass. Cassie throws her head down in fear.

“Get down, Cassie I got them!” Max asserts, rolling down his window and taking aim at the pursuing vehicles. It was easy to not cause any collateral or casualty, now that the enemies’ gunfire has scared of all the drivers near them.

Every shot Cassie heard, she cowered further deeper into the cushions. There was very clearly a deep-seated fear within her for the confrontational aspect of excursions. Perhaps it’s just because no one expects to have a shootout in their international expeditions... Too often...

Max has emptied an entire magazine, and missed another three. But on the halfway-point of his second ammunition clip, Max had, by chance or by skill, perfectly shot the tire of the other truck chasing them, causing it to veer off to the right involuntarily and smash into a convenience store. “Cassie, I’m fairly certain we can never go back here!” He declared.

“I’ll tell my parents to add it to the list!” Cassie, with a tear in one eye, commented.

The other truck that crashed earlier had recovered and joined the SUV to continue and support the chase.

“They’re closing in, and I can’t go any faster!” Lorenzo noted.

“Let them come; if they wanna get up close, I’ll give them close. Hold the Range Rover steady.” Max holds onto the latch of the passenger door.

“MAX! What the fuck!?” Cassie calls out.

“Don’t worry about me, Cass!” Max awaits the pickup truck to catch up and drive parallel to the SUV. When it does, he opens the door and dives onto the other vehicle, punching through the open window and knocking out the passenger, and pulling him up to block pistol shots from the back passenger’s firearm. It runs empty, so Max pulls the now deceased passenger out of the shotgun seat and gets in, bashing the driver and the backseat drive-by man, and commandeering control of the truck. The latter pulls out a Micro Uzi from underneath the cushions of the chair, but Max knocks it out of the car.

The aforementioned SMG flies in the air towards Lorenzo’s SUV. Cassie instinctively grabs it, and aims it at the SUV that keep chasing them.

“Take them out, Cassie!” Lorenzo yells back.

With a heavy heart, Cassie fires at will. Eventually, the large burst of fire shifts over to the SUV’s windshield, blowing right through it, and Swiss-cheesing the operator. Without control, the SUV crashes through the barricades keeping cars from veering off and into the coastline before the Atlantic Ocean.

“Good shot...” Lorenzo merited, though Cassie was too mortified to express her gratitude over it. “Max!” He yelled.

“I hear, ya, Lorenzo!” Max responded, having pulled the original driver to the back and taking his place at the wheel. “Look, we’ll get on the Interstate again, we’ll stop at a rest area, and we’ll have the little sordid situation finished. Alright!?”

“That sounds good. Follow me and keep up!” Lorenzo nodded before returning his attention to the road in front of him. “Sit tight, Cassie.” He looks at her using the rear-view mirror again.

“Y-yeah...” Cassie cannot help but look down with all that had just transpired.

**Several minutes later...**

Max’s right fist did a drive-by of its own, with the last two knuckles giving a shiner to the left cheek of the bound driver, matching the one he gave to the backseat shooter some moments earlier. Lorenzo is right behind him, sometimes cringing at the points of impact.

“Why the fuck are you guys trying to kill us!?” The Marine followed with a powerful, uninhibited backfist that strikes them both. “How did you know we were here!? He does it again, using his other hand. “ANSWER!” He completes the trilogy of torturous clouts. 

“You... Your friend... She met our friend, right?” The truck’s driver asked.

“You’re talking about the Contact in London, right?” Lorenzo kept holding onto his chin, deep in thought of the event.

“I guess...” The two men look between each other for the strange nickname their possible acquaintance has.

“What does he have to do with anything?” Max interrogated, though he already knows the answer; he just wants confirmation.

“You jailed our friend. He ran the branch in England. Now with him gone, that chapter is finished, and the Order is now down an HQ.” The drive-by continued. “Do you really think the 616th Avenue is going to let you get away with it?” 

“616th Ave...” Max and Lorenzo suddenly got a bit cold.

“Ah, you know the name huh? But you don’t know who else is in it. Brings a shiver down your spine when a secret society sends some of its men on the surface to take you all down. You might consider such a contract an honor, perhaps.” The driver taunts, before Max becomes angered again and pistol whips the neck of him. He then slams the back of the gunman’s head onto the door of the truck they were resting on, knocking them both out. “Lorenzo, we’ll be leaving them here. Someone will find them before long.” Max returns his pistol behind him.

“Okay...” Lorenzo exhaled deeply, while looking towards the cliffside.

“Nervous?” Max turned so that he looked at him properly.

“About 616th Avenue and their equally many Street gangs coming after us?” Lorenzo reiterated with swift diction. “A little.”

“Yeah. I am too.” He then looks on over to Cassie. “But I’ve got another thing to be preoccupied about...” He walks over to the Range Rover, with the young lady still inside, shrinking into her chair. “Hey...” He goes to stroke Cassie’s blonde hair.

“No!” Cassie shirks away, almost going to pick up the Uzi right next to her. 

“Alright, how about, I take this...” Max takes the SMG, “And do this.” He unloads the gun, letting the clip fall harmlessly onto the asphalt. “Now it can’t hurt anyone.”

“Too late for that!” Cassie retorted.

“Yeah, I uh, hear about that. Lorenzo said you had a bloody streak in the closing moments of the chase.” Max takes to leaning on the rear wheel of the SUV. “That was your first time, isn’t it?” He queried.

“My first time?” Cassie looked at him.

“First time killing someone.” Max takes out a Cuban cigar and starts lighting it up.

“Yeah... It was...” She looks back down again.

“You never forget your first kill.” Max kindles the back end of his smoke with an exhale. “But killing is part of the Marine’s curriculum, so I had to end up getting used to it. I had known that from the start.”

“You were badly shaken, despite knowing you were going to be doing it anyways?” She looks at him skeptically.

Max pulls the cigar out of his mouth. “When I first joined the military, with you having dumped me, I turned to the exploration of army tours to get the flair and pizazz back in me. Even though I was enlisting in it, killing people was the furthest thing from my mind. But then I did it, and I did it some more. Some more became a lot more. You get the idea...” 

Cassie grew even more shocked.

“I wanted to say to myself that it would be something that would be even further from my mind, but I’m surrounded by it, you know?” He inhales, then exhales again. “But I’ll tell you one thing that is subjectively good about that: At least I know I can act when the time comes.”

Cassie was a tad confused about that statement.

“If you were a hostage, and I was the only person who could save you, you can bet your ass that I will save you the first chance I get. No cowering, no second-thoughts. You will be saved the bloody bestest and earliest I can. Because if I do any of the before, I’ll be dead too.” He nearly finishes his cigar. “I’m not saying I want you to become a trigger-happy killer, or myself. But, you shouldn’t regret a good shot to a baddie like that... Because you damn well know that he wouldn’t have regretted doing the same to you.” He concluded.

Cassie comprehended the message, but still had not completely condoned it.

“We’ll get going when you say so, alright? But we can’t stay with these Avenue guys for too long though.” Max flicked his cigar over the cliff.

“Avenue?” Cassie asked.

“Yeah. 616th Avenue is after you for what you did to a high-ranking official of theirs. Judging by where we are, they’re probably sending in their 20th Street, to mow us down and right a wrong lost in their huge market and business. They probably didn’t expect us to live through all of this though, so quite possibly we can get out of here and get a head start before word gets around about what really happened.” Max stops leaning on the automobile. “So, what’s your call, team leader? To Orlando and get a flight out of here?”

“... Yes.” She nodded.

“Then not a moment to lose!” Lorenzo heard and ran over, getting into the driver’s seat.

“Let’s go.” Max shrugged and got into the shotgun seat.

Cassie slid the seat belt over her and clicked it into place. 

Then, the three of them discarded the battle-damaged Range Rover (they can’t show that to any government officials), and got on a flight to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. While looking out the window mid-flight, Cassie saw the clouds, pondering what’s to come of the adventure she has forced herself to undertake.  _ Will there be more good that comes from this than bad? Please, God, may that be so. _ She then closed her eyes and then slouched back into her first-class chair. Max, sitting right next to her, gazed at the blonde historian resting with worry once again.


	3. Stuck in the Middle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a bloody afternoon changes to a night at Roanoke, Cassie is given her first test as to if this fortune hunting expedition is truly worth it for her. Meanwhile, upon finding the secrets of the Colony, two new enemies are found to have joined the fray. Apparently, going to find the lost secrets of Sir Francis Drake and Elizabeth Sydenham is a very society-breaking thing, and nobody wants it. :/
> 
> But can Team Cassie stay ahead of all their opponents and follow through with the mission they agreed to during what seemed like so long ago?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Another chapter for y'all! I hope you all like it! xD
> 
> \- Azure ;)

Knowing full well that a very intimidating street syndicate that is an affiliate of a very venerable secret society is after us is not quite so welcoming to a post-college fortune hunter and to her two friends.   
Cassie, having awoken twenty minutes before her flight to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina lands, continues to look through the same window in which she had contemplated another life-scarring thought. I guess I expected resistance when I decided to train myself in kickboxing in the months before graduation, and foreplanning of this adventure, but my first fight didn’t end up being one to defend myself from being raped in an alley; it was a high-speed shootout in populated streets! Who doesn’t have to think about what dangers may unfold after the expedition just started? Cassie couldn’t keep this thought out of her mind as the pilot announced their arrival and brought the commercial plane down.  
Cassie, Lorenzo, and Max exited the airport, and called for a taxi bringing them to a speed boat rental shop. Dropping them off across the street from one, they lease a small motorized ship to travel discreetly over to Roanoke Island.   
“It’s night time...” Lorenzo looked up at the sky while piloting the ship. The sun was about to fall into the horizon of the sea from afar, taking the gold shine with it.  
“Which means everyone that will care that we’re trespassing on the territory won’t be there now.” Max said, inspecting his Colt XSE pistol before loading it up.  
Cassie looks at the firearm with superstition. “And yet you think you’ll need that?”  
“I’m a Marine, Cassie. This never leaves my side.” Max countered, putting it back behind him. “Alright, we’re about on shore of the island. Get ready, all.”  
Cassie, Lorenzo, and Max wedge the boat halfway into the coastline, so it can easily be pushed out once they must depart. But for now, they leave the aquatic transport behind and do a quick perimeter check of the colony, making sure no one was here. When it was valid that that was the case, they proceeded to search the individual residences of the island that are authentic to the time period they were focused on, only to find nothing that particularly extends their search.  
“We’ve gone through this place for almost an hour, and we still haven’t found anything...” Max pounded an outside table.  
“Well, an hour ain’t too much time to find a centuries-old secret...” Lorenzo sighed.  
“But we don’t have centuries; it’s almost midnight. Tourist hours start just a little after dawn; we have to find something that relates to Sydenham or the 1801st passenger.” Cassie scoped the area with her oscillating eyes once again.   
“Cass, maybe you’re following something to a dead end? And right here is the dead end?” Max looked over to her.  
“WHAT!?” The young lady sternly gazed at him over that statement.  
He wasn’t backing down, however, crossing his arms in defiance. “Maybe there really was a descendent of Drake and Sydenham, Cass. That, I won’t deny. But seemingly, they kept it a secret to Sydenham’s father, Francis’ other privateering friends, the Queen of bloody England, and the rest of the world. Eras in history have passed, and there have been advancements towards the means of discovering the allegedly lost ties scattered in the timeline. And yet, those developments have allowed us to find out this theory you, I, and Lorenzo, assert is fact.” Max clears his throat. “So maybe, we ought to wait, until we make even more developments on this case. It’d make it much easier to lay low from those 20th Street thugs that we came across as well.” He suggested.  
“Wait?” Cassie repeated with spite. “WAIT!? I’m tired of waiting! My mother wasn’t much older than I was when she first found the statue of El Dorado! In two or three years, I won’t have an excuse for why I haven’t contributed to the Drake legacy, and made it my own! This is my time! And I’m not letting it pass! Those Avenue-Street guys can go fuck themselves for all I care! They won’t stop me!”  
“I wonder how many have said that before...” Lorenzo genuinely cogitated.  
Max snicked a bit. “Y’know, I always loved that fiery spirit of yours.” He went to dig his hand through the right side of Cassie’s hair in an intimate gesture, but she slapped it away. “Exactly what I’m talking about.” He dusts off the same hand on his chest. “So then, I assume you have a new idea to find the next part of the ‘Sydenham Trail,’ if it’s to be called that?”  
“I can surely gather that the next clue is in some hidden passage, since I have a feeling the clue we are after wouldn’t last long in the public eye. But I don’t know how it is hidden, and how we can find the passage to it...” Cassie held her chin. “Maybe Daisuke knows.” She unlocks her Nokia and dials Daisuke.  
“Oh God, that guy again...” Max looks aside with contempt.  
“Suck it up, Max.” Cassie retorted.  
“Cassie.” Daisuke answered the call.  
“Great, it’s you, Dai-kun.” Cassie spoke to the device.  
“Cassie, we’re all here too!” Kat exclaims audibly, confirming Alexa and Rena’s presence in the sound realm.  
“That’s nice, but I only need to speak with Daisuke.”  
“What do you need? We’re just about done on our front.” The other historian queried.  
“Oh you are? How did it go? What did you find?”   
“I, uh, don’t want to say on this unsecure landline. We’ll speak about it when we rendezvous on the ferry we’re waiting to arrive. For now, what we can say is that the search was quite rocky; Auspices Security and Counseling was after us in Cartagena.”   
“Um, Auspices?” Cassie sounded unfamiliar of the name.  
“Auspices? Daisuke, what did you do?” Max snatches the phone and listens in.  
“Hey!” Cassie became ticked, while Lorenzo looked on with worry.  
“We didn’t do anything. We have no idea why they’re here.” Dai responded.  
“Okay, who are these Auspices people?” Cassie asked aloud.  
“Auspices Security is a private military company that came to power when Shoreline went out of business quite a while ago. They have taken even more volatile tours than the latter, however, and their dedication to the work is fiercely adamant. Which is putting it in the most positive twist possible.” Max described.  
“They’re bad people.” Kat spoke out.  
Cassie scoffed. “Huh, so, so now, we got both a secret-order-supported street gang, and a mercenary faction after us. I guess I lied when I said that we were the only ones after this so-called treasure.” She ironically stated.  
“Wait, a street gang?” Alexa called out.  
“We’ll talk more about that later. For now, Cassie has something to ask you.” Max throws the phone back to her.  
“Thanks.” Cassie catches it. “Daisuke, we’re at Roanoke. The clues from St. Augustine had led us to North Carolina. As you and I recall, Drake’s Great Expedition had one final destination in Roanoke Island, to supply the starved residents there. Drake went to accept the hero’s welcome at Portsmouth, England while Sydenham stayed behind to tend to all the residents. But if there was a case of Sydenham’s father coming to look after her, she would need a place to hide out to protect her secret. What do you know on the Native history here that might reflect on that?” She questioned.  
“The English of Roanoke Colony turned to the Carolina Algonquians during their latter period there, and some practices derived between them included devising a discreet movement system to assault a rival Native tribe called the Enos. If you want to disappear, they would use those pathways.” Daisuke explained.  
“That makes quite a bit of sense actually.” Max pointed out. “The infamous climate around here can usually call for a relentless storm schedule. It wouldn’t be wise to raise an infant here, unless you can somehow make weather not a problem.”  
“Alright, that sounds good. Fortunate of you to help us out, guys.” Cassie is about to hang up and eagerly start searching.   
“Hold on, Cassie. I forgot to tell you, what we found in Cartagena...” Daisuke commented at the last second.  
“Yeah?” Cassie requested elaboration.  
“It’s going to blow the entire scope of this excursion.” Daisuke finished. “Like I said, it can’t be said here, so you’ll have to confide in that. Bye.” He hangs up abruptly.  
“‘It’s going to blow the entire scope of this excursion?’ Hey!” Cassie futilely tries to extend the conversation. “What does he mean by that...”  
“Damned if I know. Daisuke always speaks way too complexly for his own good.” Max looks away once again.   
“So... Underground, right?” Lorenzo breaks the ice.  
“Yeah...” Cassie puts away her phone. “Let’s go find an entrance.”  
“Nice.” The three wander around the colony’s area in search of a possible means of entering the ground. Lorenzo finally finds one in the basement of one of the larger and more refurbished estates. “Hey, guys... Look at this.” Lorenzo points out a peculiar indent in the wall of the cellar. “Anybody think a section of this can move?”  
“It ought to. If not, I reckon they get some sort of infestation by the ground that is parallel to it.” Max mentioned.  
“So maybe a book will open it up. Let’s see...” Lorenzo turns to an adjacent wall of shelved tomes and begins pulling out ones that he believes are decoys.  
“No, that book trick is at least a century after Drake’s time. It must have been something more close to his style...” Cassie looks around, before noticing a low-placed watercolor painting of the Colony, with a stone engraving of near-identical design to the side of it. “Hm, the arrows on the fort don’t match... Unless, you turn it clockwise ninety degrees...” When Cassie had done so, something that sounded like a lock had released erupted.  
“Whoa-ho!” Lorenzo exclaimed, while Max pulled out his CQB pistol in anticipation of the worst. “What did you do, Cassie?”  
“I just corrected a part of the wall’s furnishings as it corresponded to the painting. And there’s another I see... The ship in the painting is on the East side, but here it’s on the West.” She grabs a hold of the stone frigate. “If I could just...” She rams the ship, loosening it up, discovering that it was stuck using magnets, and slides seamlessly across the wall. When she moves it close enough to the location as per the canvas, it locks into place, and an identical sound to the first blares. Suddenly, the indent on the wall widens, and the door slides back, and then to the left, disappearing behind a stationary side. “There we go...”  
“Awesome job, Cass.” Lorenzo pumps his fist.  
“I say we head on in, then, though we better be wary for anything living in there. As Natives don’t leave just one way of getting out of these things, and who knows if any have collapsed...” Max cautioned, keeping the XSE pistol in hand, though not without the proper trigger discipline.   
The trio explore the catacombs, often having to backtrack when they find an alternate exit. Along the way, they find some decent trinkets left behind on the miscellaneous chairs and tables scattered in the more open pathways.   
“Whoa, pretty sick tomahawk we got here...” Lorenzo picks one gilded and feathered axe up, and inspects it with glee.  
“These coins ought to fetch a pretty nice sum.” Max snatches a few Shillings and Sixpences from off the counter.   
“Consider that your payment for your contributions. But now, eyes on the prize, guys.” Cassie reflects, going down the last passage left unexplored. The lady’s breathing suddenly got a lot heavier when they came across another door, which, considering the lack of light coming from it, means that it is taking them into another section underground. The hideout for Sydenham, perhaps. “This looks to be it.”  
“After you, my lady.” Lorenzo bowed.  
“Yeah, what he said.” Max thumbed behind him.  
“Okay...” Cassie turned the knob on the door, and threw it open. And behind the threshold, was exactly what Cassie had been looking for.  
Within the room, there was an assortment of infant instruments, another cradle that has most definitely been used, and, most importantly, engraved on the back end wall that read “Drake.” A note by Sydenham proved her presence here, when it was another unfinished letter, with her signature, asking when to see her husband again at the Colony.  
“Yes, yes! This is exactly what we need!” Cassie almost squeed, taking out a Progredi camera and documenting the whole experience.  
“So I guess this is it, right? We finally found out that Drake had unnoted successors.” Max stated, putting down a rattle.  
“This is definitely the bulk of our discovery, but it’s not all of it. We need to find if this Drake Jr. had a Drake Jr. himself, too.”  
“For the best then. I would’ve been very disappointed if this was all we wrote.” Lorenzo grinned with audacity.  
“How will we find the next generation, then?” Max looked puzzled.  
“Maybe that’s what Daisuke meant when he and the other girls found ‘something that will blow the entire scope of our excursion.’ Let’s call them again when we’re off this island, and meet up with them.” Cassie ordered, putting the camera away and leaving the room with the two guys. They leave the underground tunnels, closing the entrance behind them, rise above the basement, and prepare to get out.  
But when they exit the house, a rude awakening greets them.  
“There they are!” A mean-looking guy holding a Mac-10 yells, pointing out the three students and opens fire on them.  
“Shit!” Max hollered as he threw himself and the other two underneath a tipped over lunch table. He gives suppressive fire to the rising, opposing forces, who back into their own cover, creating a brief reprieve.  
“They followed us here? What the fuck is this?” Lorenzo screamed aloud, while Cassie, being reminded of those horrid sounds, crouches down in an almost vertical-fetal position, with her hands covering her ears in intense dread. “Cassie! Cassie, come on!” Lorenzo tugs on her a bit, in which the latter snaps at him just enough for him to let go.   
“We need to get outta here. I see another cover spot, large enough for all of us just a meter distance away. You guys first; I’ll keep watch.” Max stated, reloading his XSE firearm.  
“Sounds good. Cassie?” Lorenzo pushed her again.  
Cassie nodded, and after a long glare at the enemy 20th Street doing their thing, she sprints to the trench mound, barely avoiding the gunshots coming her way. Lorenzo rolls his way over as well, and Max powerslides into cover as well.   
Max takes down one and two of the many men surrounding them, but that doesn’t do much to even the odds.   
“We need to get back to the boat now!” Lorenzo stated.  
“Can’t bother with our boat anymore. We might as well believe that these guys had already sabotaged it. If we an, we must get to one of their boats.” Max argued.  
“We can’t get to anymore safe spots while under this much pressure!” Cassie yelled out.  
Slowly but surely, this became more apparent. The 20th Street outlaws were closing in. Lorenzo managed to snatch a gun off of one too near, but he wasn’t nearly as competent as Max was. Cassie meanwhile, refused to go near such a weapon. Things looked very bleak...  
Damnit, damnit, damnit!!  
But then, so suddenly, the bullet rain coming their direction had altered course.  
“Que te...” Lorenzo was confused, as were the rest of them. He went to peek, but Max pushed his head back down.  
“Are you out of your goddamn mind!? Wanna get that face blown right off?” Max called out. “Agh, well, they are still shooting, so they’re not waiting for us to pop out, at least particularly.” He figured.  
“But if they’re still shooting, and not at us, who are they shooting at?” Cassie asked around.  
“You two, wait here.” Max flanked around his cover, allowing only his head from the upper eyelid above exposed. “FBI!”  
“Government agents!?” Cassie yelled, almost at the top of her lungs.   
“Yeah, let’s keep them to their own fight.” Lorenzo peeked over. “Dalton White is there too!? Yeah, both of those teams’ have their hands full, and I don’t want to disturb either of them. Let’s get one of the boats!”  
Under the guise of the chaos, the trio ran their way over to the coastline. But the chaos was not enough to cloak them...  
“We got some runners!” An FBI captain witnessed their coming into light.  
“What!?” Dalton White, the leader of 20th Street, looked back, keeping his CZ 75 Automatic aimed upwards.   
The three were quickly alerted and sprinted off as fast as they could, commandeering one abandoned gunboat of the 20th Street, and sailing away. A SWAT chopper notices the escape and chases after them.   
“Shit! They’re on our tail!” Cassie looks back with mortification.  
“I’m on top of it!” Lorenzo yells back, noticing a large drainage tunnel miles off, and hidden by the rocky, mountain-like coastline. He decides to zoom over to there, getting out of the helicopter’s light along the way.  
“They went into a man-made opening of the Carolina shoreline!” The radio operator on board the aircraft noted.  
Minutes later, FBI patrol boats swooped in and made a sweep of the location, only to find the trio’s seacraft abandoned, with no other path to take. And yet, they have already disappeared from the government’s watchful eye.  
In that same amount of time, the three had found a connecting narrow, ascending passage that used to allow workers go from the highways to the drainage tunnels without taking very roundabout driving routes. They have fallen out of favor when the water system changed to mostly center-matic control. But that meant it was a forgotten staircase turned escape plan for Cassie, Lorenzo, and Max.   
Lorenzo exhaled deeply, as did Cassie, and Max slightly. “I think we lost them.”  
“For now. They’re going to put the nearby cities, like this one, on lockdown any second now. We need to get a ride, FAST, and get out of this city, FAST.” Max stated.  
“Yet another city the Drake family can no longer go to... Kitty Hawk.” Cassie sighed.  
The three ran along the Interstate to find a nearby harbor. There was a black market auto dealer that was willing to give up one of his modded and untraceable Jaguar XJs, in exchange for the coins and exotics that the two men had looted from the Roanoke Colony. But at least the three can escape before the Heat becomes really messy...  
“Now THAT was too close.” Lorenzo looked on and through the windshield frantically.  
“We were lucky. Too lucky.” Max started to calm down. He looked back to see Cassie in the backseat, but once again very much shivering inside. “Cass? You okay? What’s wrong? You didn’t shoot anybody today.”  
“That doesn’t matter! One bit!” Cassie screamed. “There’s a war going on! A Secret Order, a mercenary faction, and the FBI, and they all want us! Why are we so hated!? This was not at all what our mission was about!” She addressed all the unwanted players in the game.  
“Cassie, please, calm down. We’ll get things sorted once we reunite.” Max tried to keep her from producing steam from her ears. But that might be too late.  
“Too late for that! We can’t go to anyone now! These people will be chasing us all over the world, for whatever reason their own!” Cassie stated.  
“Okay, I’ve had enough.” Lorenzo stops the car at a rest area several dozens of miles away from Kitty Hawk and steps out of the car, gripping his own head.  
Cassie gets out and tries to leave them all behind so that their enemies only go after her. But Max manages to quickly dismount as well and bearhugs her from behind, and lifting her up so that she couldn’t use her legs.  
“Let me go!” She yelled.  
“No! We’re in this together! Like it or not!” Max stated.  
“Shit, shit, shit!” Lorenzo smashes the hood of the luxury vehicle.  
“Stop fighting me!” Max keeps his hold firm.  
“This isn’t what I wanted!” Cassie incessantly, but perhaps ineffectively tries to break free from her high-school friend.  
But then, a phone rang.  
“Wha’?” Max hears the phone coming from Cassie’s waistline. He coils Cassie around his left arm while he dives his hand into her jeans pocket to answer the call. “I’m sorry, whoever this is, but Cassie cannot take any calls right now.”  
“Max? Why do you have her phone?” Daisuke, as the caller, reacted.  
“I have her too. She’s been trying to escape. Still is.” Max flatly replied.  
“What? Escape? Why? Put her on the line.”  
“I told you she isn’t in the calling mood right now.”  
“Oh, fuck it. Give me that phone.” Cassie demanded her Nokia. “Daisuke.”  
“Cassie... What’s wrong?”  
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong. Me, Max, and ‘Enzo have been attacked. At Roanoke Island. By 20th Street gangsters... and the fucking FBI!” She ascended in tone after each punctuation.   
“Federal Bureau?”  
“Yeah, the Agency! They thought we were some of the street soldiers as well. And because we ran away, it doesn’t matter what’s the truth now; all they want now is to nab us. We are being pursued legally and physically! One ‘-ally’ was bad enough; two is too many!”  
Daisuke paused. “Are you done?”  
“What do you mean, ‘am I done!?’”  
“Is that it?”  
“‘Is that it?’ What, is that a Sunday afternoon for you? Is that what you’ve been dealing with on the daily when we separated many years back? You might enjoy having chaos ensue everywhere you go, Daisuke, but I don’t!”  
“Then you’re not Cassie.” He answered.  
She raised her phone with her head up. “WHAT?”  
“You’re not the daughter of Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher. You’re not the daughter of two parents who have gone through numerous adventures unsanctioned and unapproved. You’re not the daughter of a man and a woman who have never once shed a tear over the fact that legal affairs have gone against them in discovering lost treasures. You’re not the one they call... Cassie Drake.” Daisuke speeched.  
“Ah, bullshit, Dai! Don’t give me that! The point of advancing generations are so that the future doesn’t have to deal with crap like the last did.”  
“And you won’t have to. Because there is still a way to get out of all of this. But it lies in us finishing our journey.”  
“What?”  
“The FBI believes you three are 20th Street. Gangsters, street trash, right? Well, we need to prove to them that you’re not just some two-bits. In reality, you were fortune hunters, looking for invaluable products of history. What’s on the menu today? Francis Drake, Elizabeth Sydenham, and that greatest thing that connects them.”  
“So now the proof of a lineage... Really really matters now...” Cassie began to calm down as she listened in.  
“He actually did it.” Max was totally surprised.  
“Yeah, that was a miracle’s work.” Lorenzo was as wide-eyed as a lemur.  
“Yeah, yeah it really does.” Daisuke reiterated.  
“So then, we gotta meet up and finish the job, huh?”  
“Couldn’t say it better myself. Look, the ferry we’re on is heading to Cuba. There is another ferry in NC going there as well. Take it, and rendezvous with us on a ferry, set for Panama. Got it?”  
“Yeah. We got it. See you soon.” Cassie repeated, before hanging up. “Alright guys. Time to disappear from America for a little while. We’re going to Cuba, to go to Panama.”  
“That is where the girls and Daisuke will be?” ‘Enzo queried.  
“It’s where we’ll all be.” Cassie nodded.  
On the Ferry to Panama...  
“Cassie!”   
Alexa leapt into the other’s arms once the seven of them were reunited.   
“Oh. let me join in too!” Kat, feeling so left out, dove in and hugged them both. She had surprising strength.  
“Daisuke.”  
“Max.”  
The two guys stared each other down before short-arming close and pounding each other’s back once. Rena nodded to her fellow Academy peer as well.  
“Let’s take a lunch table and talk about what we all have been doing...”  
Team Cassie reflects on their events in St. Augustine, Florida, and Roanoke Island, and finding out the almost undeniable evidence that Drake and Sydenham had a kid with them.  
“Wow, you guys had a full plate.” Kat noted.  
“You were chased by the FBI? That’s awful!” Alexa covered her face.  
“I’m more concerned about a heavily-trained crime circle, however.” Rena asserted.  
“We have a lot of enemies, and they’re all skilled. But we’re a smaller force, which means we can cover more ground. As it stands, they won’t know where we are for a day or two... Maybe. This is our chance to quickly unravel the next set of clues and get closer to the mystery, solving it before they can close the gap.” Daisuke relayed.  
“Very good. But the trail at the Colony ran cold. Did you guys find something that will keep on going?” Cassie asked.  
“We do.” Daisuke pulled out his notebook and opened it with the archives of those days...


	4. Backtrack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassie, Max, and Lorenzo learn what the other team has been doing in Cartagena while they themselves were at St. Augustine and Roanoke Island. And what's in the center of all that will change the entire operation...
> 
> Also, with the realization of them being chased no matter where they go by four different hostile forces, the soldiers of the team decide they, and a newcomer, will need some equalizers...

_ Inside a pub in Cartagena, sat Daisuke, Alexa, Kat, and Rena, at the bartable, feeling a slight sense of loss in the fact that they had found nothing of interest when they toured the fort that Sir Francis Drake had invaded during his siege there.  _

_ “Well, whatever we’ve been searching for is a legend...” Alexa shuts her laptop with a most gracious disappointment possible. _

_ “Not only that, but that sentinel was largely unspectacular. Even battle-damaged, I would’ve expected something a little more being one of the most famous landmarks in South America...” Kat stated while studying one of the coasters. _

_ “At least I got to see some decent structuring...” Rena supported her head in boredom. _

_ “...” Daisuke read over the page ripped out of Sydenham’s journal that reflected on some of the events in Cartagena, Columbia. “There’s definitely something missing from this section of the mystery. And it isn’t very big, but it’s no less important.” _

_ “Do you know what it is?” Kat looked over to him. _

_ “No...” Daisuke folded the piece of paper into quarters and then put it into a plastic bag, back into his pocket. _

_ “Well then, might as well let the cold ones do the magic.” Rena decided, eying the bartender heading over to them. _

_ “Here you are, ladies and gent, your drinks.” The man slid them over to the four. _

_ “Thanks.” Kat flipped a silver dollar to him as a tip. _

_ Daisuke took his cup of water, inspected it a bit, and then took a small sip, placing it back on the table, and fiddled with it. _

_ Rena slammed the mug onto the hardwood herself. “Hellyeah, a local brandy is just what I needed.” _

_ “Not classy enough for me, I’m afraid. A rocks margarita is a far preferable choice.” Kat also took a slight gulp of her stemmed glass. _

_ “Might as well give your alcohol some purposeful use, guys. Like this mojito.” Alexa swished her cup a bit before taking a swig. _

_ Daisuke thought about the sentence for a bit before looking at Lexa’s drink. “That’s a mojito, Alexa?” _

_ “Huh? Uh, well yeah. I’d suppose it is.” _

_ “Mojitos...” Dai tapped the table for a few seconds before snapping his fingers. “Mojitos were invented due to the Great Expedition.” _

_ “What? Really?” Rena looked over. _

_ “Yeah. Drake had noticed that a large part of his crew had been suffering from a combination of dysentery and scurvy as a result of all of their previous naval excursions. So he took the remaining able men and sailed to Cuba to create a cure. They came back with huge mounds of the ingredients lime juice, mint, sugar, and white rum, mixed them all together, and created the cocktail to heal them.” Daisuke explained. _

_ “Wow. That is quite useful.” Kat looked surprised. _

_ “But until they returned, Drake and his men needed to put their residents somewhere where the people wouldn’t infect the rest of the area...” Daisuke looked into his memory banks to find another such location that matched that description.  _

_ “Ah, that would explain why Drake returned to the settlement and turned it into an English Colony. Once you make it hospitable, why not do that?” Kat suggested. _

_ Daisuke’s mind flickered. “I got it. Come on, let’s go.” He swiveled his long-legged chair and took to leaving the bar. _

_ “What? We just got our drinks!” Alexa looked disappointed. _

_ Kat quickly guzzled down hers. “Alexa.” _

_ “Yea-” Alexa then had her mojito be somewhat quickly poured into her mouth. When it was finished, she coughed a bit. “Man, you’re bloody awful for doing that.” _

_ “Damnit...” Rena took one last swig and left her hard drink unfinished on the bartable. _

**_At the containment site..._ **

_ Daisuke had taken them to the Old Walls of Cartagena de Indias. As society continues its course, when new neighborhoods like the one the four were just in come into being, the old ones become the dumping ground for the less wanted of the population. Drake certainly wasn’t thinking too much of his people like that, but if they were here, there would be no reason for the distressed and defeated Spanish to try and fight back there while he was at sea. _

_ “This is all well and good, and it adds up rather nicely, but why would Sydenham be here? Wouldn’t Sir Francis want his wife to be far away from all the sick people?” Rena questioned. _

_ “Sydenham was a very decent doctor, as documented on archived records. She couldn’t be isolated from ill individuals, or what was her purpose? Also, Drake wouldn’t want to leave her very much unprotected in the main city.” _

_ “So how did she limit how much exposure she had to the diseases herself?” Kat inquired. _

_ “She ought to have had a secret room that no one but herself could get into. Let’s go find it.” Rena believed. _

_ The four walk into the site, which has long lost its infections from the many decades of burnings to eradicate them. This doesn’t leave too much within the vicinities of the Old walls, but that wasn’t what they were looking for anyway. _

_ And during their search gave them a little more time to say some things about themselves. _

_ “So, Alexa...” Rena caught the technophile’s attention. _

_ “Yeah?” _

_ “You’re Cassie’s best friend?” _

_ “No, that title belongs to me.” Kat held her hip with false anger. _

_ “Well, I have been her roommate for quite some time. She had recommended me to keep living with her for three years straight, so I suppose she at least sees it in me.” Alexa explains. _

_ “But do you feel the same way?” Rena asked again. _

_ “Yeah. Cassie is a very nice person, if a little eccentric. She hasn’t given me a reason to hate her...” Alexa looks away. _

_ “But?” Kat looked curious. _

_ “She’s a tad, bit, little unskilled in the home economics front. Doesn’t wash too much.” Alexa rubbed her forearm and looked away. _

_ “Ah, so she was a pain to live with.” Kat noticed. _

_ “It became troublesome after I was done with Gymnastics training. But Cassie was just too magnetic to be very mad at.” Alexa grinned. “And what about you, Katalina? How did you end up becoming friends?” _

_ “We were research partners during some psychology courses. And she was definitely a great, fun partner to work with. Any personality type the project demanded, she could mold into being. We bonded over that, and never looked back.” Kat explained. _

_ “Hm, the varied interests that you two share with her make it sensible.” Rena pointed out. “I wish me and Max were the same way. We only have Armed Forces between us.” _

_ “Then how did you two befriend?” Alexa was very curious about this. _

_ Rena held her tongue for a bit, looked away, then down, and then closed her eyes. “I needed academic help.” _

_ “Really? From Max? He doesn’t seem very intelligent.” Kat scratched her cheek. _

_ “Max is cleverer than he looks.” Daisuke stated, while feeling the indents on the Old walls. “He’s seriously devoted to his major, and his penchant for survival skills and sense of direction made him an invaluable addition to the team, which Cassie most definitely saw, even when she didn’t want to.” _

_ “Exactly.” Rena threw her hand up at him. _

_ “Wow... Never saw it that way.” Alexa remarked. “Speaking of, Daisuke, when Cassie came to me about the organization of our expedition, I looked on your file, and you were a Biotechnology major.” _

_ “That I was.” _

_ “Well, and yet, you rival our Cass for trivial world history. Is that the reason she brought you up first?” Lexa asked. _

_ “It was a good factor. But the major was the top reason. Detailed files on human anatomy makes me a good on-hand medic, and that’s what Cassie wanted. Which only makes sense, given the fact that she can barely take care of herself economically.” Daisuke studied the stones longer. _

_ “Heh, that’s not going to go away anytime soon.” Kat laughed. _

_ Abruptly, Daisuke noticed a difference in the depth lines between some bricks on the wall. “Ladies, I think we found that secret wall.” He backed away to look at it. _

_ Rena went to inspect it herself. “Oh yeah, no doubt about it. The different stones used between the stationary wall and the door wall signify it.” _

_ “Wait, you can tell from that?” Kat held her hips. _

_ “I’m a civil engineering major. Foundations and their materials is my forte. Certain rocks look identical, but they can work much differently.” Rena dug her fingers into both walls. The rocks of the door left no mark, while the rigid stones had a white scratch. _

_ “Nice to know where it is. Now how do we get it open?” Alexa held her chin. _

_ “Luckily, secret button locations are also a specialty of mine. At least, by orthodox standards. The architects usually left another stone that was of the same structure as the ones on the door, and not too far away.” Rena states, beginning to scratch all stones nearby, before finding one that does not leave behind a white line. “Aha.” She then pries the brick open from the left side, which reveals a latch-like object. Rena pulls on it, which loosens up the stone door, which moves out, and then to the right. “Gotcha.” _

_ “Nice work, ms. Soldier.” Kat clapped. _

_ “Amen. Now let’s find some clues.” Daisuke nodded, taking out a lighter to illuminate the narrow passageways.  _

_ The four travel through the corridors one at a time, since the tunnels were not too wide. There was also only one such winding path, which most likely went through the less dense sections of the hills near and within the Old walls, which meant there wasn’t a way to get lost in this area. That just made their job easier. _

_ “God, I’m getting a bit claustrophobic.” Kat starting hugging herself, looking at the upper sections of the walls. _

_ “Don’t freak out on us, Kat. You’re supposed to be the cool and reserved one.” Rena advised with genuine worry. _

_ “I think we’re almost there. Stay gold, everyone.” Daisuke requested, keeping the lighter raised. His assumption was correct, when just two corners later, the four had come across another door. _

_ “Looks to be it.” Alexa noticed. _

_ “Looks like it.” Daisuke agreed, before carefully placing his hand on the latch of the egress, and turning it gently. He then pushed it forward, opening the entry to a completely pitch-black room. Daisuke stepped in with his light source to illuminate it, but what was there that remained was a disappointment. _

_ “This was what we were looking for?” Kat studied the nearly empty room. All that occupied space other than themselves was a single table with some untaken items, and a chair that went along with it. _

_ “Hold on, there’s something here.” Rena stated, going over to the table and pulling a small parchment from underneath a pile of coins; one of which Daisuke looked at himself. “It’s written in the same dialect and format as Sydenham’s script, but it doesn’t look nearly as old or refined...” She observed. _

_ “Let me see it.” Alexa requested the note. She read it while awaiting whatever was on her phone to start up. “‘To whomever may find this, [the arrow pointed at the coins that were on top of it], help yourself.’ Huh...” When the application opened, she moved her camera over it. “Data scan is saying that all variables point to this note not being Exploration era, as Drake was. It seems to be more like Golden Age, or just before. Anything we can make with that?” Alexa looked around with curiosity. _

_ “Golden Age... ‘help yourself...’ And a tower of Pieces of Eight coins.” Daisuke grinned while shaking his head. “Kleptomaniacs, we all are. People who are after things that they find more valuable than mere gold and silver. We want truth; not valuables. Just like whoever has laid this note for us. Anyone have an idea who that is?” He riddled. _

_ “I have a feeling you know.” Kat crossed her arms. _

_ “Sir Henry Morgan.” Daisuke answered. _

_ “THE Henry Morgan?” Lexa widened her eyes. _

_ “The early-age pirate of the 17th century?” Rena managed to identify. _

_ “That’s the one. For what we know of ‘Barbadosed’ and his brief career as a privateer, much of his expeditions were always seen as quite random. The naval pattern is completely off. And yet... There are most definitely some connections he has to our friend Sir Francis Drake. For one thing, he raided this area many decades after Drake did. But no one knows why. There wasn’t nearly as many valuables remaining in the town towards the end of the 1660s. Unless, he’s trying to find something that would label him something of a kleptomaniac too...” _

_ “You mean, Henry Morgan was after the same thing that we are?” Kat pondered. _

_ “Exactly. And why would he do that, if there’s no such connection between them?” Daisuke points at her. _

_ “Because there  _ _ is _ _ a connection!” Lexa pointed back. _

_ “And we’re going to find it. Drake’s Great Expedition, and as such, his journeys with Sydenham, have come to an end at where Cassie, Max, and Lorenzo are. The trail will be dead unless we follow the remainder of Morgan’s trail, who, thinking about the route he took, is looking for Drake’s final resting place.” Daisuke concluded. _

_ “Well, we know where that is. So why go through his entire route?” Rena asked. _

_ “Because there wasn’t a clue for where Morgan went after he found Drake’s coffin. IF he found it.” Daisuke argued. _

_ “He didn’t find it?” _

_ “We’ll go deeper into this once the whole team’s together. Let’s just get out of here.” Daisuke ignored the question, and went outside. _

_ Alexa watched him leave. “He’s much better at giving us details than Cassie...”  _

_ “No surprise there.” Kat looked at her, scratching her head. _

**_The next day..._ **

_ Daisuke, Alexa, Katalina, and Rena awaited the ferry taking them to Cuba to arrive.  _

_ “This is definitely better than that Google internship I had last Summer.” Alexa stated as she did what appears to be blogging about the journey. _

_ “Or that field study at Freud’s hometown. God, what were we to learn there.” Kat closed her eyes with cringe. _

_ “...” Daisuke and Rena stared at the same thing with aggression while holding firmly onto their equipment. _

_ Kat noticed their behavior. “Dai? Rena? What’s over there?” She stands up and looks over their shoulders. “Oh...”  _

_ “What? What is...” Alexa looked at the three and then in front of her. Her pulse raised. “Who are those guys?” She shivered while asking. _

_ “Auspices Security Counseling. Mercenary militia that pretty much stole the market after Shoreline died down. And PR’s words say they’re even more volatile than the latter in what they do.” Daisuke replied without looking away. _

_ “U.S. Armed Forces hates when these guys follow them on tour. And for very good reason. All of these men are savages. But they also have great lawyers and attorneys, so there’s no way their actions are incriminated.” Rena looked ticked. _

_ Suddenly, the men in black turned to look at the surroundings of the harbor. _

_ “Don’t make eye contact.” Daisuke stated, turning around and looking at the marina. _

_ The other three ladies broke gaze and pretended to have a chat together. _

_ “Comrades.” _

_ The four noticed a similarly-dressed man running towards his like. “Bar and guides have confirmed it; they saw a group of four roaming around asking about historics.” _

_ “Then what the client says is true. They’re here.” A fellow Auspices soldier said. _

_ “...” All four thought about it. _

_ “They’re after us.” Alexa looked mortified. _

_ “Come on, ferry, get here now.” Daisuke said, watching a boat break the horizon of the sea and appear within view. _

Daisuke flipped over to an empty page. “And that’s our story in Cartagena.”

“That’s some search.” Lorenzo commented, utterly flabbergasted by the contents of the mini-adventure.

“So Auspices doesn’t know where you are now. At least we have that going.” Cassie supported her head.

“For now. But Auspices was given information that we would be here, so I have a feeling that whoever hired them is on the hunt for either the ‘treasure,’ or us. And he’s a good tracker.” Rena countered.

“Then we need to stay one step ahead of them. Maybe we can do that by you, Daisuke, elaborating on Henry Morgan in Cartagena.” Cassie refocused.

“Very well.” Daisuke turned to another section of his notebook. “Henry Morgan’s journey has always been one of a kleptomaniac, since him and his crew were always incurred with some debt. He was searching for Drake’s coffin, or a means of finding it. Most likely to judge himself before a very competent ancestor?”

“Wow, to think that I might be a descendent of both Sir Henry Morgan and Sir Francis Drake...” Cassie was literally amazed.

“If this is true, this is definitely a History Channel story of a lifetime.” Max was equally surprised, for good reason. 

“Who knew there was deep  honor among thieves , even if it was for tentative family?” Katalina was skeptical, but accepted the belief.

“But since your father was the only one who ever found where he died, that’s not the case. Morgan must have gave up some time during his privateering days and settled on tributing his legacy in another location. If we follow his naval journey to the letter, I think we’ll find that tribute. And then there will be no more room for debate on an ancestry for you, Cassie.”

“Good. Answers is what we were looking for, anyway.”

“And our destination is Panama?” Lorenzo looked at the travel card on the ferry.

“What? Daisuke, you said that we wouldn’t find a clue at Drake’s fake cemetery.” Alexa flared up.

“I did say that. But Morgan never made it there, so that’s not where we’re going. Under the guise and incentive to invade Porto Bello, he raided the town in search of Drake. But to no avail. So he went for the next best thing. Cassie, what was it that your father said had and treasured for decades?”

“Sir Francis Drake’s ring...” Cassie flickered. “The ring that had the coordinates to his death site! It got into a museum somehow!”

“The ring?” The others repeated.

“The ring.” Daisuke and Cassie repeated.

“And who would have the ring?”

“The Governor.” Cassie snapped. “Something he can say or have should extend the excursion and give the rest of Morgan’s journey reason.”

“So that’s what we’re doing next? Having counsel with the leader?” Rena clarified.

“Sounds as good as anything else we could do.” Lorenzo joked.

“Okay, good. At least we’re not going too blind anymore. But before we go to that, I’m noticing we’re going to Colon before Porto Bello. I want to bring you all to a U.S. sanctioned area first.” Max requested.

“Oh, that place.” Rena understood what he said.

“We’re wanted by the Law, Max. Why would we go there?” Kat asked.

“It’s not being used at this time. We’ll all be fine.” Max answered.

“Well alright then. I hope it’s a meaningful detour. Let’s all get back to our recreationals and get some rest before we get to Panama.” Daisuke closed his adventure notebook and put it back behind him. 

“Damn right.” Cassie excused herself from the table. And with that, the seven left to their own devices; some to their cabins, others to getting some refreshments.

Daisuke meanwhile...

“...” The man was looking through his study while getting to his room. Upon unlocking it, however, he had heard a squishing sound on his floor. It was all wet. Daisuke quickly put away the journal and pulled out an OTs-33 Pernach pistol, surveying his room and gently closing his suite door. When he cut a corner, someone from inside the bathroom had come behind him, and aimed an identical pistol at his head. Daisuke rolled forward to disrupt the line of fire and swiftly aimed back at whoever it was.

“You’re learned a lot.” The person, identified with a feminine voice, had stated. “You remembered how to identify intruders. And to even up a staredown.”

“So flattering, coming from you...” Daisuke did not lower his aim, instead going into his jacket pocket and taking out another firearm; a custom Strayer Voigt Infinity.

“You were always one for personalization.” She remarked on the second pistol.

**The next day, off the ferry...**

“Daisuke’s taking a lot of time this morning.” Max grumbled, looking at his Swiss Army watch with impatience.

“Cassie, does he have a habit of sleeping in?” Lorenzo interrogated.

“Not that I know of...”

“I’m here.” Daisuke said, descending down the mobile staircase, with the same person that ambushed him last night behind him.

“Daisuke, who is that...” Cassie looked around him, but she realized exactly who that was the second she laid eyes on her. “Pema?”

“Right you are, Cassie.” The Tibetan lady of roughly thirty-four years, jet-black hair, and tanned complexion.

“Cassie? Who’s this?” Alexa questioned.

“Pema. She’s the child of one of my parents’ good friends, who they met during one of their adventures.” Cassie explained. “During the times that she visited, she was like an older sister to me.” Then, Cassie became perplexed. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I heard you were going on an international run, so I thought I would pick up on that and catch up to you. Help you out, any way I can.” Pema explained.

“There’s no cut for this, you know. It’s not treasure we’re after.” Max warned.

“Who said anything about a cut? This is just helping out a friend.” 

“That’s hard to come by.” Kat remarked.

“Whatever. Max, let’s just get to the bunker.” Rena cut to the chase.

“Ah yes.”

And with that, the team, upgraded to eight different members, traveled to the man-made Panama Canal, which they briefly traveled down before finding a strong door that Max had legally gotten into, and a brief walk through the corridors brought the rest to an ammunition locker. “Alright, everyone. Take something that you fancy.”

Cassie took one look before flipping out.

“Impressive...” Daisuke was intrigued by the selection.

“What? Guns? We’re going to get guns?” Alexa looked preoccupied about that decision.

“We’re being chased by a lot of manpower that also happens to have a lot of ‘gunpower.’ We’ll have to fight fire with fire if they ever catch up to us.” Rena responded.

“Absolutely not! I won’t be touching any more of those horrid inventions!” Cassie crossed her arms and looked away.

“Cassie, this is our best shot. What will you do when you stand against a legion of Auspices with nowhere to run?” Pema considered.

“I... I just don’t want things to come to that.”

“We’ll try our best. Do you think any of us went on this journey to kill people? But if it means we’ll be safe, that’s what we’ll have to do.” She added on.

“... Alright. I’ll take something small.”

“That’s smart. We don’t want to attract attention, being citizens with heavy weaponry on hand. Unfortunately, no impersonating uniforms, or I’ll really be in trouble down the line.” Max scratched the back of his head. “Anyway, everyone, get something you work best with, and put it into one of these army duffel bags.” He throws some onto the ground.

And with that, the eight explored the firearm “Library.”

Cassie dug through a gun locker and pulled out a Taurus PT99 with black grips and nickel finish. “Hm, looks quite like the ones my mother said she used often.”

“Your mother used a Beretta 92 inox. Pretty much the same design, but the one you’re holding is much more useful for beginners like yourself. I think you got a good one.” Max noted, while whip-pumping a Benelli M4 he took off the wall.

“A shotgun? Really, Max?” Rena judged, sliding back a bolt on an FX-05 Xiuhcoatl, set to burst-fire mode.

“Don’t worry, I have long range covered too.” He put the Benelli in the travel bag while hoisting an HK M27 IAR assault rifle.

“You call that long range?” Daisuke scoffed, while testing out the aim of a Heckler and Koch MSG90. “This sucker will put you down at more than half a mile away.”

“You seem to know a thing or two about guns, Daisuke.” Cassie looked surprised.

“Call it interest.” He replied.

“Elite IIs... Sounds like just my pair.” Kat stated, before spinning them upwards and aiming Akimbo with the Berettas. 

“I really hope I don’t have to use this...” Alexa carefully pointed a Walther P99c. 

“We’ll let you handle taser duty, if you really wish, ‘Lexa.” Max said, offering her a Taser X26, which she accepted with at least a little more glee.

“Safari, and Steyr? This is awesome.” Lorenzo called out, holding a Safari Arms .45 with his left hand, and a SMG Steyr AUG A3 with his right.

“Looks like they suit you, ‘Enzo.” Dai snickered.

“Not as much as this G36C suits me...” Pema stated, letting the Heckler and Koch assault rifle rest on her shoulder for the time being.

“Okay, we have our choices. Ammo on the left. Stock up, zip up, and let’s get out of here. Don’t let anyone see the contents of the bags, mind you.” Max again cautioned.

_ Is this really what fortune hunting has changed to? Said hunters having to ready themselves for war? Jesus... _ Cassie thought, before putting the Taurus pistol in her ankle and leaving the bunker with the rest.


End file.
